If life is an exam, every one to be prepared to appear and clear it, may be with different grades. When we say prepared, the question props up ‘what is the syllabus?’
To me, like the bolt from the blue, it comes crushing in that the syllabus is Truth. Two things are in life or in the world, one is truth and the other is not truth. Truth is real. It is universal. It is absolute and doesn’t have shades. It is right as always. It is permanent and not confined by the frame work of time, it is constant and enduring in the past. Constant as in the present and will be in future. It is beyond any barriers. One has to yield to it. Neither one can confront it nor one can sidestep it. It is there to face you or you will face it whether one like it or not. It is a part of you or you are part of it, an inseparable entity. Truth fences off bigotry and prejudices. It liberates from the clutches of passions. It gives clarity between the grain and the chaff.
Yes, this is the syllabus of life.
What are the texts available?
Religious Tenets, Philosophy, Various branches of science and Nature are some of the texts among many.
Nature deals only with truth. It follows the dictums of truth. Light travels in straight lines and when it refracts it transforms as VIBGYOR. Earth pulls objects by gravitation force. Seeds grow roots downwards and trunk upwards, no matter how you sow the seeds. They all abide by truth which is a rule and law.
Religious tenets by themselves are pure and true. But in the hands practising society, religion picks dross and diets. Rituals, superstitions, black magics, sorcery, witchcrafts get accommodation and approval and brings religion from high pedestal to a mean market as commodity. Like rivers that is born on the mountain tops and run on slopes, ravines, valleys, plains and glades, religion is pure and life sustaining. Miserably like the river it gets stinks and turns putrid like cesspool before it merges with the sea. The water is no more pottable, too salty to quench the thirst.
Philosophy is an abstract science and a study of human morals, character and behaviour. It postulates and forms theories, and it is not the common man’s realm.
Hours of contemplation and ruthless mental exercise is the fee one has to pay to understand it. For many, it is a hazy one like mirage. You run after it and never to be convinced. We hear about philosophers, we quote and refer them in our speeches and in our articles and revere them. There ends our casual acquaintance with this tribe. From Aristotle to Bertrand Russel, the list is long. ( in my UG course Philosophy was one of minor). The philosophy schools of thought is apeiron, multi faceted, epicurean, nihilism, stoicism, escapism etc., etc. ‘EX NIHILO NIHIL FIT’, ‘NATURE ABHORS VACUUM’ & ‘COGITO ERGO SUM’, ‘I THINK THEREFORE, I AM’ are some of the quotes that reverberates in the corridor of time. If mention is not made about Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung it will be serious lapse. Hindu philosophy espoused Karma and pantheistic philosophy based on Vedas and Upanishads and Vedanta is preached by Shankaracharya. In the recent times, JK emerged as philosopher and theosophy had booster shot. Philosophy and philosophers continue to attract sanguine and best brains.
Early philosopher like Descargar recorded in their dialogues that god has planted the idea of god in human’s mind and later in 17th century, Voltaire remarked that if god is not there he must be invented. Philosophy was not anti religious as people thought but it insisted on pro rational.
We move to science. It is the beautiful bride to show case renaissance and the global progress and the March of civilization as a whole. It brought wonders and miracles the world has never seen. What humanity wanted and aspired were translated into realities. Science can parade before us the benefits that bestowed on us. Sir Isaac Newton’s Law of motion, Dalton’s Atomic theory, Mandal’s Genetic theory, Charles Darwin’s Natural selection and Survival of the fittest findings, Principles of thermodynamics, Mendeleev’s periodical table, Watson& Crick encoding DNA, Ramanujam’s Mathematical findings, Albert Einstein’s Relativity theory and many more discoveries and findings just turned the world upside down and inventions were and are the order of the day. The crown and marvel invention is computer and the credit goes to Charles Babbage. Adam Smith ‘Wealth Of The Nations’ and Malthus theory of population gave new dimension to economics. It was no more a science of bread and butter but it is a system of running nations.
Science is not sleeping in the east and west and more and more grounds and boundaries are won. What was once astronomy has now come the preview of geography once man landed on the moon. Science is best bet and it is the best partner of man.
Yes, man’s quest for truth is the syllabus. In life there are simple manifestations of truth. Love is one. We love God and adore him. We thank him for all the good that emanates from him. Love is in worship form. Parent-Children love is umbilical and is genetically bound. Love between siblings is a natural extension as they are members of the same flesh and bone. Love between friends a liking between two souls. Love for our neighbours is the barometer of harmony as we are gregarious beings. Wisdom is another form of truth. Like love wisdom unites people. Wisdom includes all life values. There can’t be two different sets of values. Compassion and empathy is yet another allotropical form of love and truth. Pains are shared and pleasure and joy are exchanged. Fidelity, loyalty, honesty and integrity, et al have truth as the bed rock.
The four corners of life which is truth based are 4 S’s Sarvam (perfection), Sundaram (beauty of the soul), Sivam (love) and Santham (peace) said Dr.Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, former president and philosopher of India. One to possess to such an attitude in life the prescription to have love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Menorah Manor,
Peiyanvillai
22.04.2020